BRUCE ALDRICH, JR. WINS 4 AT MONTI DURING THE DAY; ADDS 2 MORE AT NIGHT

Fri, 03/28/2014 - 11:03am -- swiles

Last year the name of Bruce Aldrich Jr. forged its way into racing hierarchy. Sure, he had won many driving titles at Monticello Raceway over the first decade of the new century and had over 4000 wins in his career, but last season he became more known nationally when he reined 645 winners and finished tied for second in races won on the continent.

And again this year Aldrich is a player. Just yesterday(March 27) he won four more races on Monticello Raceway’s afternoon card where he’s atop of the driver’s standings, and then added two more victories to his seasonal totals last night at Saratoga Raceway.

With 111 wins already in his pocket in 2014 Aldrich currently ranks seventh in driving victories and is moving up on the North American leaderboard.

“Now that Saratoga is open and I can drive at two tracks there’s a good chance I can win more races, especially since I’m lucky enough to be driving some live mounts for so top local trainers,” Aldrich admitted.

On Thursday (March 27) on Monticello Raceway’s eight- race afternoon card Aldrich won four of them. He had two wins for top trainer Bob Lounsbury; Vincent Fra in 1:57.4 ($3.50) and Machin Music ($2.90) in 1:56.4. He also scored with Paul Moore’s Livinwell Hanover ($3.60) in 2:00.3 and then hustled trainer Anthony Regina’s Best Of Times ($24.80) to a wire to wire triumph in 2:00.2.

His two wins that evening at Saratoga Raceway--where’s he’s second in races won- were with trainer Lindley Blackler’s Hawaiian Sweetie ($2.80) in 1:59.3 and with the Bert Belanger-trained trotter, Southern Strength ($8.70) in 2:01.4.

“I hope to be able to repeat some of last year’s magic but in order for me to do that I’ll have to stay strong,” Aldrich said. “Oh, I don’t mean physically, I mean mentally, because I’ll have to spend countless hours in the car traveling back and forth to Monticello and Saratoga. And let me tell you, all those hours on the road can wear you out.”